Five minutes notice I was given for this case, what a bunch of bullshit. Anyway, though, I was at Francis Square, saw that place a hundred yards away from the edge of the street. The information we were given was accurate - how couldn't it have been? That old maniac was scared out of his mind. The trip up there was easy enough.  No one lingered out of their homes this late, and it was still far too early for any early risers. When we got to the edge of this purported residence, Larcel stopped and looked toward me.
	"Do you want to lead?" She was still mad, but she didn't want to show it.
	"Sure." I reluctantly stepped forward and continued toward the house. It was certainly the kind of place that would provoke myths about it - black curtains fluttered in the wind, and the bleak walls begged me to look away. It only served to solidify my hypothesis that this place was blackened. We cautiously made our way up the steps, onto the house's shambling porch.
	It was obviously a residence of natural origin, but the aberration had definitely exaggerated it. The whole place looked like an R.L. Stine cover. Way too obvious, but I guess this is what society eats up. God, Francis Square - if they could see the shit that gets dragged up to Lockturne Point, they wouldn't see fear as entertainment anymore.
	As I strode down the creaking deck, I glanced to Larcel. The anger towards me was still there, but now there was fear there too. I couldn't say I blamed her, I figured the dark isn't for everybody. But that sight earned her a shade of pity from me.	"Avery, it's okay. It's nothing."
	She gave me a look of forced puzzlement. "Yeah? I know."
	I had to stop myself from betraying my stoicism. "All right, cool. It should be this up ahead." I pointed to an old decorative mirror leaning against the deck's railing. We approached it, and sure enough, we had found our culprit.
	Larcel looked into the mirror and tilted her head. "No…reflection. How is this possible?"
	"The dark has many ways of altering our world. Part of it is illusion, and part of it is fabric. I think this is the former, there's nothing here to indicate anything but a T1 case.
	"T1, first class transport. So a looking glass. A window?"
	I smiled at how quick she was getting this. Of course most of the people who have earned my trust had come from Phlaurel's, but she seemed like an exceptional one, right from the start - despite her sordid history. "That's right. My guess is that our aberration is a weak one trying to terrify people. Collect more deaths."
	Larcel couldn't help but smile. I knew it, she loved this job. "That would make sense!" She said, looking toward the mirror. "So, just the basic neutralization? I don't think this needs anything else."
	"Yes, that should do it."
	There was a pause I didn't expect.
	"Proceed with the neutralization, Avery."
	She looked at me and gave a chuckle. "Yeah, no thanks."
	I cracked a smile too. "You aren't superstitious, are you?"
	"No!" she quickly said, but I knew. That made me laugh, the thought of an agent from WAP being scared of social compulsions invented to keep you frugal. 'Spill any of my salt or crack any of my mirrors and you'll get bad luck!' It's not hard to see why people started to live by that kind of nonsense.
	"Hey, don't laugh at me, man," she said. "I don't need that extra weight on my mind. You're competent enough, find a rock." She smiled at me.
	"Unbelievable," I said as I went towards the yard. What was really unbelievable, though, was how quick Larcel had come around. Mad at me for doing my job, then happy because she started doing the interesting part of hers.
	It wasn't hard to find a rock, and so I soon came back to the deck with one. Of course, the aberration was in the mirror now - a perfect duplicate of me.
	"I don't toy with you like some of us." I raised my arm, and the aberration predictably shook its head, tried to stop me through body language, but it was no use. The T1 vessel was destroyed by a natural, amazing rock and all was right. I got that flighting feeling of accomplishment, as usual, but Larcel looked shaken.
	'Something wrong, Agent?" I tried not to empathize the last word, but I probably did anyway.
	"Of course not," she lied. "I was just - I wasn't expecting it to try to…"
	"Bargain?" I finished for her. I then continued, "That look of fear in its eyes was a mimicry. Fear is a human quality - an aberration like that can't comprehend the feeling. It was trying to illicit sympathy from us, which is why we can't it give any. The dark isn't foolish, Avery. Like any parasite, it learns how to best feed off its host."
	"Why can we only break the vessel, though?" Larcel asked. I thought to myself, here we go. The next question she asked was a normal one, but still one that I didn't like to answer. "Why can't we end that thing for good?"
	I sighed before I answered. "Your curriculum at Phlaurel's taught you the standards for neutralization, exorcism, and containment. There's a reason that elimination isn't a subject - it doesn't exist. When these anomalies bind themselves to our world, they have to follow the laws of our reality. The bindings they use are things we know, things we can neutralize. But the aberrations themselves are nothing but dark." I looked away from Larcel, unsure of how to proudly explain the concept. "There's nothing we can currently do to challenge the dark directly, just as they can't challenge us in that manner." She looked disappointed, so I added "Believe me, I'd love to end this sick cycle. But it's all we can do, keep the cycle going so we don't end up on the wrong side of it. Do you understand?"
	She hesitated, then simply said "Yeah. I do."
	I was more perceptive than she would've liked. "You're still conflicted. You want this to be easy and pure. That's only natural - complexity is a path to corruption. But I've learned the hard way that when you step into this fight, you lose some of your nature. I didn't want to dose our informant back at that station any more than I want to do anything I do in the duty of light. But you can't hold onto your purity like the rest of our world and still expect to be a capable warden against these terrors."
	"That's what judgment calls are for," Larcel said, the fire I saw at the station back in her eyes. "We don't have to make ethical choices all the time, but when we can, we should. Why the hell not?"
	There she went again. I was beginning to worry about Larcel. She had the competence for this field, surely. But a tumor of doubt grew in my mind that she may not have the philosophy for it.
	"You say 'ethical' - ethics are what keep society peaceful, they're what keep the trains running on time. What we deal with is right and wrong: morality. And morality doesn't care for suffering or altruism, it cares for the natural and unnatural. If there was even an iota of a chance of him convincing people what he saw, or even worse, them becoming corrupted by it, then I made the right choice."
	She shook her head. "What about the people he did ramble to? Isn't there an 'iota' that they could take him seriously?"
	"As you said, it's a judgment call. What our informant saw was real - he knew it to be certain. They thought it the ramblings of a man with too much liquor in his stomach. And at best, he would shake it off as just that, a night of too much drinking. But that dark would still linger in his mind. Even in the sense of petty ethics, how would relieving him of that burden not be a service to him?"
	Larcel was silent, so I continued. "You know, before we had amnestics the policy was to eliminate our informants."
	She scoffed. Still mad, illogically so. "Why is that no surprise to me?"
	"It's what needed to-"
	"No," she said, glaring at me. "Just stop. You know, I only joined WAP because I thought at least I could still make a difference here. Maybe I still can. But I didn't betray my brothers and sisters to get on your propaganda infested mental level, I did it so their good wasn't for nothing. Don't mistake my willing leave from the coalition as abandoning what it stood for."
	"This is dangerous talk, Agent. Remember that deviation from our mission is cause for expulsion."
	She was furious now. "Then fucking report me, Jack. This isn't 1984, even WAP doesn't have a stamp on my thoughts. If you think I'm going to do anything but what I took an oath to do, then you don't know me. I won't let my common decency get in the way of global protection, but I'm damn sure not going to hide it either."
	I rolled my eyes. Technically, she was right. But it still wasn't a proper mindset for a soldier of the light. "Fine, Agent Larcel. Keep holding onto that if it makes you feel better. It's only another rung for aberrations to cling to."
	"At least the rung is there for the rest of us to grab, too," she said, twisting my metaphor. "Now I'm sure Dezel wouldn't want you to loiter at an unnatural site. Let's go." She took off toward the car.
	"And who's the stickler now?" I said in a playful manner, following her. She was silent, and I dropped the conversation. I may have been the best agent this century, but I was no conversationalist.
	Larcel took a pack of cigarettes out of her jacket before entering the passenger seat of the car.
	"You smoke those things?" I asked incredulously, sliding into the driver's side.
	She scoffed as she lit it, as if that was a ridiculous question. "Of course I do."
	I shook my head as I turned the key in the ignition. "I will not abide that disgusting toxin in this car. Look - you're already getting your odor everywhere."
	"Not your car," she said flippantly. "Deal with it."
	I was getting slightly irritated now, I'll admit. I didn't refuse to move the vehicle or anything - we began to cruise down the dead country road - but I wouldn't let her have this. "I will remind you, I'm the senior agent here. All calls are at my discretion."
	Larcel took a long drag before responding. "Yeah, this isn't exactly a 'call'. There's no threat to world protection or the natural stasis here - just to your oh-so-delicate sensibilities."
	I couldn't help but roll my eyes. She lacked the respect toward me that I deserved. "Whatever, Agent. Smoke it up. If you want to be unprofessional, it will be reflected on your performance brief."
	She looked at me, this time the incredulity in her eyes. "You would fucking mark me down for having a cigarette? Jesus Christ, man, this is beyond by the book and into literal pettiness."
	I shook my head. "It has nothing to do with you. You're on a case right now. What's next, am I going to see you hit up our informant for a sip of his flask? Maybe stop by the local high school and see if a degenerate kid will sell you a doobie?"
	"You are unbelievable," she said, tossing her lit cigarette out the window. "Cigarettes don't get you high or wasted, they calm your nerves."
	"Any recreational substance affects your judgment, Avery. And-"
	"It's Agent Larcel."
	I had to pretend that didn't hurt a little. "Yes. Agent Larcel. And when you're representing our order, you need to be in peak physical and mental condition, in every way. A taste of mental freedom at the expense of your senses is far from worth it."
	She scoffed and just stared ahead without responding.
	"Hate me for it if you want, Agent. I'm your partner, not your friend. You have off-time, smoke all the cigarettes you want to then."
	"Oh, I intend to."

	it was a few days before I saw Larcel again. I had been given a more serious case by Dezel - she wanted me to take Sabin or another veteran agent, but I could do this alone if I had to, and I wanted Larcel to see this anyway. Her face showed a bit more hesitation this time, and as soon as she entered the car, she began to babble to me.
	"Agent Schuyler, I am…so truly embarrassed about my hesitation to carry out the standard amnestic procedures last Saturday. I can't say I rescind my stance on my cigarette usage, but I gave a lot of thought to what you said about Garcia, and you're right. He's better off now than before. Just know that any conflict I have with you isn't personal, I just want to do my job and do it right."
	I smiled. "That's very big of you to say, Agent Larcel, thank you."
	"Please, just call me Avery. There's no need for such formalities between us, I was just…annoyed the other day."
	"I understand. Now, shall I brief you on what we're dealing with?"